Los Flemings

We're home in Cary now after a tour of Florida before Christmas. First a visit to Nanna Banana in Winter Haven, then a whirlwind series of visits with good friends back in Tallahassee. We made it home in time to celebrate Christmas on Park Street with Dandy and Grandaddy Frank. I promise pictures as we get settled back in.

It has turned out to be a rather eventful year for Los Flemings. Graduations, new enrollments, roadtrips and a move to NC. If you're new to our blog and have lots of time on your hands you can browse the archive by month to see what we've been up to (see the menu bar to the left). And if you're only curious about the rafting picture on our card, go directly to July and look for the entry for the 15th (or click here for a shortcut).

Our best wishes to all for a healthy and peaceful new year.

Our favorite nurse anesthesia student is just a short time away from surviving her first semester. Her last test Monday was successful and today she wraps up the last of her clinical hours for the month. She's going out on a high note with grades she can be proud of and two successful patient intubations yesterday. Now the big adjustment will be getting used to having her around for the next two weeks, a welcome change.

We joined in on our first Carolina Canoe Club trip Saturday. It was the annual Sprig Outing on the Upper Little River near Lillington to collect mistletoe for holiday decorating. The weather was sunny. Sam had a great time with the collecting but was also thrilled with all the other kids that showed up.


Here he claims a clump as a prize.







The technique for collecting from our canoes involved using long poles with hooks attached to the end. Once an appropriate clump was spotted the hook was used to snap the mistletoe from the tree banch at its base. The trickiest part is getting it to land in your canoe or a neighbors because the clumps will sink if you miss. To improve our odds we generally gathered a couple of boats together to offer a larger landing area.

Los Flemings returns from a turkey induced slumber with holiday greetings and a look back at the action-packed last weeks of November. Thanksgiving was thoroughly celebrated this year in Sylva, NC with Grandaddy Frank and Dandy. The special surprise was that Uncle Ross, Aunt Robin and cousin Jessica joined us for the meal. Unfortunately, our pictures were rather hazy so you'll just have to imagine us sitting around a table, all stuffed to the gills and about to pass out.

We came on back to Cary on Saturday night to beat the traffic and get Mame home with some extra quiet time to prep for her test on Monday (which she did well on). Then Monday afternoon Grandma Maxine rolled into town for a visit. That got her in on a return field trip to Kenny's Gym and lots of Sam time, including a trip to the Christmas tree lot.






Here Sam stakes out his choice.















Sam was a great help decorating the tree.

















The finished product


















Two elves, Sam and Alexis (our neighbor from across the street).

Back on 11.17 Sam and I headed to downtown Raleigh for the annual holiday parade. I must admit it was a little tough getting excited about Christmas before we'd even had Thanksgiving. But we braved the chilly weather staked out a spot on the sidewalk and enjoyed the show. There were lots of bands and even some Macy's parade style balloons - albeit on a smaller scale. Sam's only disappointment was that there was very little candy being tossed from the floats - contrary to his prior experience in Tallahassee. This probably had to do a lot with our location close to the end of the parade. We'll plan better next year to position ourselves close to the front.








Our favorite float: the giant shopping cart.


















Ol' Saint Nick's good buddy Darth Vader spreads some holiday cheer.